The present invention relates to carrier pucks for releasably gripping objects to be moved along a predetermined path and, more particularly, to carrier pucks for releasably gripping closure elements of varying shapes and sizes, transporting those closure elements along a processing line and effecting rotation of the closure elements to permit the closure elements to be mated to containers.
Carrier pucks are common in the prior art. Such pucks are used to receive, support and convey articles having unusual shapes, such as closure elements to be mated to containers. Such elements comprise sprayer heads, flat caps and push/pull dispensing caps. Carrier pucks for receiving and supporting closure elements have typically been designed to receive and support only a single closure element type. When a different closure element type is to be utilized, line changeover must occur. This typically involves modifying the processing apparatus along the processing line. This, however, is costly due to, among other things, production line downtime and the expense of additional pucks.
Before being mated to a container, closure elements may receive one or more of the following items: gaskets, dip tubes, adhesives and sealants. The closure elements are commonly transported by carrier pucks to assembly stations where they receive these items. After these assembly steps have been completed, the closure elements are removed from their respective pucks and transferred to support devices provided on a capping machine where the closure elements are mated to containers. Requiring movement of the closure elements from the pucks to the capping machine requires additional part handling which adds to the expense of manufacturing the final product. Requiring both carrier pucks and capping machine support devices to transport the closure elements during manufacturing is costly due to the expense of providing two sets of carrier parts. These expenses are multiplied when separate sets of carrier parts must be provided for a plurality of different closure elements.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved carrier puck which is capable of releasably gripping closure elements of varying shapes and sizes. There is further a need for an improved carrier puck which is capable of transporting closure elements along a processing line and effecting rotation of each of the closure elements to permit those closure elements to be mated to containers.